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That's like asking Americans why they don't visit the Ukraine, rural Poland, Lichtenstein, Slovakia, northern Finland, or Newcastle-on-the-Tyne. I'm not trying to knock those places, it's just that they're not really on anybody's "Greatest Hits" list.
The Germans like to visit the US West/Southwest due to the interest in the "Wilde West" in the pop culture. Cowboys and Indians and stuff like that is sort of passe' in the US but the Germans are fans.
So you'll see a lot of German tourism out in Der Glodene West.
Italians are even crazier about the "Far West." There's a reason they churned out all those old Spaghetti Westerns.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MetalLord
That's like asking Americans why they don't visit the Ukraine, rural Poland, Lichtenstein, Slovakia, northern Finland, or Newcastle-on-the-Tyne. I'm not trying to knock those places, it's just that they're not really on anybody's "Greatest Hits" list.
The South has tons of tourist attractions, though. It's not considered 'flyover country' like most of the Midwest is.
I think the number one factor here is the south has very little in the way of international tourism. When you think of other countries you usually envision their most famous monuments and structures, and the most famous places in the United States are primarily on the coasts and the larger cities.
Most people want a vacation or holiday when they travel for leisure, not a sojourn. So many Europeans choose places like Orlando, Las Vegas, New York, and the like. The South is great for road trips; however, staying in Atlanta and Mobile for an extended period of time, say, is not as appealing as staying in Orlando or Miami. The road trip as such does not seem to be as familiar a concept to Europeans as it is to Americans (although many Germans, for example, tour the West by car).
Tourists don't give a hoot about culture, only Russian tourists. Tourists want different things, the want the "typical South" even if it does not exist anymore (in that case, developers would have to recreate it to attract tourists).
For example, the fat southern sherrif in an old fashioned drugstore (George Kennedy), southern belle contests, real bbk, dixie flags, rednecks fighting in a bar, etc, etc.
The problem with the American south, it's that (save in the mountains I guess) it is known to be sweltering hot&humid in the summer, and -apart from south/central Florida-not warm enough in winter to be snowbirding there. So taht leaves only spring and autumn, and I've not enough money (and freetime) to add a vacation to -certainly beautiful-places in the southern US in spring to my now traditional month of snowbirding in Mexico or Thailand in middle winter.
Those pics are a response to this quote by a previous poster.
"The American South is behind the times, politically, economically, and socially. There is a lack of soul in the South. Who would want to visit that waste of land? Save for San Antonio and Charleston, no one wants to visit cities without any culture"
Charlotte has a lot of culture and the things you mentioned, but if I was coming from Europe and spending thousands on traveling I probably wouldn't visit the south either.
No offense hagendass, but seeing you go full-blown postal on Charlotte pics after a 2-line trolling attempt makes me wonder how emotionally involved you could get on these forums.. please don't ever go to the City vs. City or P&OC boards!!
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